Zero Purpose
by celadonserpent
Summary: A seminovelization of Megaman Zero, filling unexplored gaps, and exploring the purpose of the endless violence between Reploids and humans.
1. Zero Purpose

**Summary: **In a world torn by purposeless conflict, Reploids and humans can only rely on their uncertain resolve to continue striving for peace as old friendships are torn, and new ones are forged.

**Disclaimer: **Megaman Zero obviously does not belong to me; it belongs to whoever rightfully owns it (not really sure who). Anyway, this is just something that's been sitting in my computer for some time. Hope you enjoy it, and please don't expect frequent updates.

**Zero Purpose**

They had been created to serve. That was their sole purpose in life: to serve man, and when they could no longer fulfill their purpose, they would be destroyed quietly, without complaint, without regret, without fear. They were not supposed to have emotions, though they were programmed with the capacity to rationalize. They were the perfect source of manual labor; they were the unquestioning, obedient servants that could do things that men could not do.

But they were not perfect.

There was a problem in their programming, an anomaly that caused them to disobey the purpose for which they were created. This bug in their programming caused them to go berserk, or "Maverick," as men would later call it. These imperfections soon wreaked havoc upon the world that they had been created to serve, and men once again rose to the threat in the only way that they knew how.

Fight fire with fire.

A new generation was created and trained to destroy those "Mavericks," and once again, the world was at peace.

But peace never lasts long for man.

_Neo Arcadia, Year 22XX_

The city was under lockdown, allowing no one to move freely in and out. For the humans, it was an inconvenience, though they felt it was a necessary measure to eradicate those reploids that had gone Maverick. While many families were content in hiding in their homes, many reploids sought ways to get out of the city undetected. Their destruction was imminent, and they were afraid of being destroyed. That very fear of destruction was what the government of Neo Arcadia used to label them "Mavericks." After all, fully functional reploids should not have the capacity to feel emotion; they should not be able to feel fear.

She huddled silently in the corner of the toy shop, wondering gloomily why her programmer hadn't programmed her correctly. Why was it that she was feeling this strange sensation, as if her energy core was bursting, threatening to explode from her chest? She shouldn't have been able to feel that kind of abnormality from her power source. So where had her programmer gone wrong? And why had he made such a mistake?

She tried to make her already small body even smaller, willing herself to disappear from the face of the earth. She shouldn't exist. Everyone was right, she should be terminated. She wasn't "normal." She couldn't function without emotions as she had seen other reploids do. She knew that she should turn herself in, but every time she thought she had decided to go, she found that she couldn't move, and the same strange feeling she was having now would override her other senses, making her abandon all logic. It was something a human once told her was "fear."

So now she sat in the toy shop where she had been working for the past two years, trying hard to ignore the sounds of glass breaking and gunfire outside as a Maverick reploid was terminated. Maybe if she stayed really quiet, no one would notice her. She hugged her knees, her eyes feeling strange. They felt abnormally warm, and she could feel the muscles around her eyes constricting in an unfamiliar way. A peculiar shudder ran through her body, and her sound emission system wanted to emit some sort of noise. She could hear it in her central processing unit: a chopped, broken wail. But she refused to let that sound be processed and run through her speaker. Her owner's daughter had hidden her here, fearing for the reploid's destruction, and she would not let the efforts of that girl be wasted. The family was fond of her, but they knew that if there were orders for her arrest by X, then they would have no power to protect her.

The wait in the darkness was terrifying. From the shadows that danced across the walls, she could deduce what was happening outside. Reploids were resisting…and they were being terminated. It would only be a matter of time until they found her.

The glass suddenly shattered behind her, and she suppressed herself from emitting a gasp. She tried to make herself even smaller behind the counter, hoping that the Hunter would leave without checking her location. Unfortunately, the energy level of her core was higher than was normal, and the Hunter's heat sensor easily picked up her presence. Without a word, the Hunter walked towards her, took aim, and fired. She closed her eyes and screamed. She didn't care what others thought. She didn't care what she was supposed to be. She didn't care that she wasn't supposed to have emotions, wasn't supposed to feel. She was afraid, and she released the fear that she had kept bottled up inside her, shutting her eyes as the ball of light came closer. She was going to die, and her core only responded by making feel overloaded with energy, her CPU freezing as if there were too many things to process at once.

She expected to feel searing heat before her CPU would be shattered to useless pieces. Instead, she felt herself be pulled roughly to the side, landing hard on the floor while a series of shots rang through the empty building, reducing the Hunter to scrap metal. She looked up shakily at her rescuer, not quite sure if he was a dream or a nightmare. She quickly concluded that he was neither; reploids couldn't dream.

"Can you stand?" She nodded dumbly. "Then get up and quickly follow me." She followed his instructions in silence, careful not to look at the destroyed Hunter. Had she not been pulled to the side, she would have been the one scattered all over the shop. She clenched her fists tightly, trying to stop her body frame from shaking. She must have system failure. That would explain why her body wouldn't stop trembling.

"It's ok," he said, slipping his had over hers, and squeezing it reassuringly. "That one was the last Hunter in this district. All we have to do now is get out of here." For some strange reason, that simple gesture stopped her frame from trembling. She wondered if her rescuer was some kind of repair reploid. There was no other way that he could have fixed her so quickly.

They stepped through the streets quickly, their mechanical feet crushing the shattered glass beneath their feet. They moved in complete silence. She was fine with it. She didn't think that she could have spoken if she had wanted to.

She saw a sudden movement in an alleyway, and her grip on her rescuer's hand tightened. He turned around, looking at her questioningly.

"Milan! Over here!" a voice whispered from the darkness of the alleyway.

"It's all right," he reassured her. "It's a fellow escapee." He gave a quick glance around his surroundings, then ran inside the alley, pulling her along.

"Hurry it up! You're the last one, slowpoke," the masked reploid said, opening a hidden door in the wall.

"I was doing some last minute checks, and it was a good thing I did, too," Milan said, cocking his head in the direction of the reploid who still held onto his hand like a lifeline.

"Whatever, hero-boy," the other reploid said, rolling his eyes. She looked at him in confusion. The reploid was imitating emotion in broad daylight! Well, in a sense. She hadn't thought that there were any reploid that would dare imitate human behavior. He must be a Maverick! A Maverick, just like her…one that could feel, if she dared call it that.

"C'mon, we have to get out of this city quickly, before the defense barriers are reactivated," Milan said, pulling her along the dark passage. The other reploid followed them, closing the door behind them, and leaving them in absolute darkness. For a moment, she couldn't see anything, moving only by feeling her way through, but soon, her eyes began to glow, and she could see the details of the passage they were going through. There was rubble in her way, and she could hear the distant sound of water running somewhere.

"This is the old city," Milan whispered to her. "The City of Tranquility: Arcadia." They reached the end of the passage, and beneath her feet, she saw a large city, abandoned, decaying, but a spark of its former glory still remaining. Tall glass buildings reached for the ceiling of the large cavern, almost as if it were reaching for a heaven that it could never obtain. There were large, long platforms supported throughout the city, appearing to be an advanced version of their own highways. The entire city glowed an eerie blue, like the after image of a spark of electricity, quickly dying away.

"The others are in the Central Hall," the reploid said. "I have to go check in with the others. I'll meet you up in a bit." They saluted, and the reploid left, leaving Milan with the little reploid.

"The old city is amazing, isn't it?" he asked her, sighing a little. "We're using it as the base for our actions now. Since the humans won't let us live in Neo Arcadia, we'll just live in silence here, existing as shadows." He glanced back at the dark passage way that they had just crossed. "Adieu, ma maison."

She looked at him, her language program unable to understand what he had just said. He simply smiled at her, squeezing her hand slightly, and leading the both of them down the stairs to the city below them.

"I'm Milan," he said, feeling uncomfortable with the silence. "What's your name?" He was only greeted with silence. He felt her grip his hand harder. He looked at her in confusion and saw panic in her eyes. Her mouth opened, but she could not make a sound. He could feel her small frame begin shaking, and she looked at him, eyes reflecting desperation and fear.

"Shh, it's all right," he said, kneeling next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right. You probably can't speak because you were too frightened back there. That scream must have damaged your vocal system." The tiny reploid in front of him looked like she was about to cry. He smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry! I'll take you to Ciel. She'll fix you right up. Now let's get going." She nodded, and they began their steady descent down the steps once more. Behind her, she saw the once dark hallway suddenly light up with light. The defense barrier was up again. There would be no way for her to return from whence she came.

_Arcadia, Old City_

"That should do it," she said, clapping her hands together to rid them of the dirt. "If there's a flaw in Neo Arcadia's defense system, it's that their defense barrier keeps their enemies out, but also keeps them in. They won't be able to get to us unless they lower the defense barrier, and if that should happen, we can just escape from Neo Arcadia all together."

"If that should happen, we're going to suffer a lot of casualties," a resistance member said next to her.

"Then we'd better pray that they don't want to waste the energy to wipe us out," she replied, trying not to sound worried.

"It's not like you need to worry about anything," she could hear someone grumble quietly. "You're human." She frowned, but said nothing. Whoever had said it was right. She was human, and reploids simply weren't programmed to harm humans. In fact, she was pretty sure they couldn't, unless they were Maverick.

"We appreciate the effort and help you've provided us, Dr. Ciel," a reploid said loudly, obviously speaking more to the one who had complained than to her. "We wouldn't have been able to escape with as little casualties as we had suffered. Your continued presence is a great help to us."

"I'm only doing what is right," she said confidently. "Now, let's get to the Central Hall. The others are probably waiting for us already." There was a general murmur of consensus, and the group began moving towards the center of the old city. Ciel swallowed. She was doing the right thing, wasn't she?

She shoved the thought out of her mind and began concentrating on her surroundings. No time to second doubt herself. She had only one road to walk now. She couldn't turn back.

Her foot made a slight scuffling sound as she moved across the stone pavement, thankful for the reploid that held a light to light the road up for her. She knew that the other reploids didn't need the light. After all, she _was_ the only human here, and was therefore the only one who needed that light.

She began to feel uncomfortable in a company composed only of reploids. She knew that with her decision, she had cut off all contact with other humans. She would never see her family or friends again. Not until she finished developing another source of energy, that is, but she was starting to wonder how long it would actually take her to come up with an alternative source of energy. Sure, she had been hailed as a genius back home for "resurrecting" X, but what she had been doing then was simply re-creating something that a true genius had made years ago. In all honesty, she didn't know if she had the capability to create another source of energy.

It also didn't help that some of the reploids here blamed her for their misfortune. She had been the one to create Neo Arcadia as it was now, a city with reploid enforced security, forcing peace upon its inhabitants at all costs. At first, her skills had made the city safer, reducing the damage that Mavericks caused, and lowering the crime rate in the city. But then, she had wanted the city to become even more perfect. She thought that she could perhaps create the city in the ideal that the legendary X had before he had disappeared. She thought that she had known what X's ideal city was, and in retrospect, she knew that she had been too conceited, too arrogant to realize that she knew nothing at all.

It started off as a simple surveillance program to watch and prevent crimes. But then, it developed to something more, and soon it infiltrated every household, watching every citizen's moves until there was no such thing as "privacy" anymore. But the people had not minded, and instead, applauded her for her efforts in rooting out potential threats to the city. But that very network she had created soon trapped its creator, along with the inhabitants of Neo Arcadia in a reality that could not be escaped from. So when the Neo Arcadian government realized that an energy crisis was imminent, it used that very network that she had created to incriminate reploids, sentient beings that she had worked and grown up with, in an effort to reduce energy use.

The reploids that were targeted first were those reploids that were most human in their appearance and actions. After all, having an emotional reploid meant that the reploid consumed more energy, so the natural solution for the government was to eliminate those reploids that were using more energy than necessary.

In the span of one night, all the reploid coworkers that she had come to care for disappeared, leaving behind only emotionless drones that could only carry out tedious chores. She hadn't thought it was that serious at first. Perhaps those reploids were only going to be placed in temporary hibernation until the energy crisis was over. Unfortunately, the government had other ideas.

It had taken only a few months, but by then, a resistance faction had been formed by reploids, protesting the unjust treatment that the government dealt to them. The government responded by using X and the four guardians to eliminate the "Mavericks." The resistance faction then appeared to disappear, leaving the other neutral reploids living in fear. And the steady destruction continued.

The other reploids had every reason to dislike her, even perhaps hate her. She had created the network that pinpointed each reploid's position and activities. She had created X, who ended up destroying countless reploids. She had been the one who forced them to abandon their lifestyle for a slim chance of survival. And now, she didn't have a clue how to continue these reploids' existence.

She had bought them some time, but it had been a high price. The government now knew that reploids were officially revolting, which would mean next time they met, it would be all out combat. And none of them had any way to protect themselves from the Neo Arcadian army. If attacked, they would not only suffer heavy casualties; it was quite possible that they would all be wiped out.

So now all the reploids that had escaped were heading towards the Central Hall, putting their processors together to hopefully come up with a solution that was not quite so bleak. Ciel wished she could do more, but the truth was she hadn't planned anything beyond the escape from Neo Arcadia to the old city. It had been difficult enough to coordinate a mass evacuation while Hunters were outside preying on reploids. She wondered how many reploids were lost in this movement, and sighed as she realized that she would never know. They had never known how many reploids had the potential to go "Maverick" in the first place.

"Dr. Ciel, we're here," a reploid said rather unnecessarily as they stood in front of the huge double doors that led to Central Hall. She approached the keypad near the door, cautiously moving her hand over it. The tiny screen began to glow a soft blue, and she quickly entered in the code that she and the other reploid leaders had agreed upon.

S-I-E-C-L-E-N-O-U-V-E-A-U

The doors opened with a soft hiss, revealing the hundreds of other reploids that had already gathered inside. She walked to the center at a brisk pace, knowing the reploids were anxious to know what they would do now. She felt a little frightened. There were so many depending on her, and she wasn't sure if she had the strength to fulfill their expectations of her. Finally, she stepped up onto the stage, facing them all. The entire hall became even quieter at her presence.

"Well, we've escaped the terror of Neo Arcadia," she said, trying to sound firm, but instead, her voice came out rather shaky. "The old city should be able to give us enough protection until we can manage a more secure route out of here. Until then, I urge everyone to stay on guard and alert the others if Neo Arcadians should decided to pursue us here. Until a safer route can be established, all we can do is wait."

"Dr. Ciel, what's going to happen to us?" a nervous reploid asked. She couldn't pinpoint the owner of the voice among the sea of artificial intelligent machines, and as she scanned the crowd, looking for the owner of the voice, she realized the true extent that her commitment required of her.

There were not hundreds of reploids as she had previously assumed. There were thousands, if not more. She didn't understand where most of them had come from. Her resources had told her that at most, there were only a couple hundred reploids that were in real danger of being retired. And yet, she was speaking to a crowd of thousands. She suddenly felt very small, as she stared from one similar face to another. They were machines, after all, so naturally they would have looked the same. What kind of manufacturer would waste money on making each reploid look different?

But even so, there were many different faces among the crowd, many custom reploids. So, the government had moved on to retiring private reploids now and was no longer restricting itself to retiring government reploids. The fact made her feel a little ill. Neo Arcadia was intruding too much in private life. But she couldn't change it now. At least, not yet. She had to first create another energy source. She could worry about correcting her mistakes later.

"Just band together," she said, much like a mother reassuring a child. "If you band together, you will have more power—enough power to defend yourselves against those that would do you wrong." Many reploids in the crowd nodded, while she noticed a few looking at her with skepticism. She was amazed that there were so many that would be willing to trust her, even when she was one of the very humans that were bent on destroying them. She smiled her thanks to them, and stepped off the stage. She was tired. She was, after all, only human.

"Dr. Ciel!" a familiar voice called, jogging towards her. She smiled at him, glad to see a familiar face after the dangerous night. She had been afraid that he might have been one of the casualties that they had incurred.

"Milan, I'm happy that you could make it," she said, the words feeling out of place on her tongue. She felt like she was addressing someone at a party. The words just didn't seem to have the gravity of the situation in them.

"I'm glad you made it out ok, too," Milan said, grinning. Ciel gave a small smile in return. "Anyway, I'm going to have to bother you a bit," he said, looking apologetic. He knew she was tired, but not so tired as to be unable to show a little of her expertise. That was one of the things she liked about Milan. He knew she was a human, and treated her like one; he knew when to protect her, and when he knew his actions would stifle her, unlike some of the other reploids, who felt they had to help her with everything.

"What is it?" she asked, giving him permission to continue with his request. He just grinned again, and moved aside to reveal a little girl behind him. Or at first, she thought it was a little girl, but then she realized that it was a child model reploid. The girl gave a small smile.

"Well, who do we have here?" Ciel asked, moving closer to the girl and allowing the other reploids to move past her and out of the hall.

"Her vocal system is damaged," Milan explained quickly. "She was screaming her head off when a Hunter was about to retire her." Ciel shot a look at Milan for his bluntness in the situation. He simply shrugged, still grinning.

"It's so strange," she said, looking deep into the girl reploid's eyes. "You're all so human."

"We were designed to imitate humans in movement and appearance," Milan said matter-of-factly.

"Humans scream when they're frightened," Ciel continued. "And some of them even lose their ability to speak after a great trauma. You could say the same for this little girl here."

"She was simply emitting a frequency that her vocal system couldn't handle at that volume, and for that duration," Milan said, as if that explained everything. "It has nothing to do with psychology. We're reploids; we don't have a mind like you humans."

"But you're afraid of dying, like us humans," Ciel said, looking sadly at the girl. "Come on, I'll fix you up at the lab."

"The lab is still functional?" Milan asked, changing the subject.

"The city was abandoned, not destroyed, so the lab should still be in working order," she replied, guiding the two through the rather empty streets of the city.

"Hard to believe that the first reploid came out of this old city," Milan said in an easy-going tone. "Wonder why it got abandoned." Ciel had no answer to give him. They continued the rest of the way in silence, each mulling over the ghosts of their own minds.

They finally reached the laboratory, and to their relief, they found that they could walk in without entering any pass codes. Ciel didn't know what they would do if they had to enter a code for the building. She would probably have just asked Milan to blow the door up.

She fumbled around a bit in the laboratory until she found what she was looking for, then approached the little reploid.

"I'm going to have to shut you down for a little bit, ok?" she said, trying to sound caring while acting professional. "I'm hoping to restart your system and get the nanobots to start fixing your voice. It's really much better for you to fix yourself than to have someone tamper with your circuitry."

"What do you think made the nanobots stop functioning?" Milan asked as the girl nodded her head. Ciel pressed two points in quick succession on each side of the girl's neck, and watched as the light faded from the reploid's eyes, signifying a successful shut down of the system.

"When reploids get too emotional, their energy core begins consuming more energy than usual," Ciel said, pushing the same two points to turn the reploid on again. "At the same time, the CPU also becomes overloaded with too many processes, and may freeze the system. We're not quite sure what processes are occurring when there's an emotional overload, but since the CPU can't handle so much at once, it basically freezes and nothing can get done.

"You should be thankful for the one who invented the double-system for reploids," Ciel said, patting the little reploid on the head. "They allow the reploid to function even when certain systems have been frozen. Can you say something for me?" she asked the little girl.

"Um…" a quiet, timid voice said experimentally. Ciel smiled.

"What's your name?"

"Wait a minute, what double-system?" Milan interrupted.

"I'm 0NB9," the reploid replied.

"What's wrong with your owner? If I had a cute reploid like you, the first thing I would do is name you," said Ciel, standing up and brushing imaginary dust off.

"Don't ignore me!" pouted Milan, acting like an immature child. 0NB9 giggled.

"I thought you were in the information department," Ciel said, looking around the lab for other tools that she could take with her.

"The information department only gathers information on the citizens of Neo Arcadia, not scientific documents," Milan said, feeling a little irritated. People always expected him to know things simply because he was in that particular department, and at times, it was a little annoying.

"The double-system means that in addition to the CPU, there another control unit in your body so that if something should freeze the CPU's functions, the second system can take over and allow the body limited function," she explained, gesturing to the others to follow her out of the laboratory. "You can't always depend on the secondary system, though. It doesn't always take over the primary system's function. When that happens, a reploid repairer or mechanic is needed to go into either the primary or secondary system to restart the reploid."

"The secondary system is like the DOS system on those ancient computers, right?" 0NB9 said suddenly, just when Milan was about to ask for clarification. "And the primary system is Windows."

"Well, yes," Ciel said, looking impressed with the little reploid. "How did you know that? Not many people know much about ancient technological history."

"I read it in children's book back in the toy store," smiled the reploid. "There were many anecdotes on how people used to live back then."

"See, Milan? Even a little girl knows more than you," Ciel joked, heading towards a building that looked like an apartment complex. "Some information specialist you are." He stuck his tongue out at her, causing the child to giggle again. "Looks like the other reploids have already opened the door," she said, noticing the electronic lock on the door was already opened.

"Good thing, too," Milan said, guiding the other reploid through the large, glass sliding doors. "Otherwise, knowing you, you would've just asked me to blow a hole in the lock."

"It's faster," Ciel said in defense, following the two into the building. "Which floor would you like, 0NB9?"

"Hmm?" asked 0NB9 in confusion, cocking her head slightly to the side. "What do you mean?"

"I say eighth floor," Milan said, walking towards the elevator.

"Who asked you?" Ciel said good-humoredly, clasping the child's hand and also heading towards the elevator.

"Ciel is so mean! 0NB9, help me!"

"H-How?" she asked nervously, looking from Ciel to Milan.

"He's just being stupid. Ignore him," Ciel advised, walking past Milan into the elevator.

"Man, you were so much nicer when I didn't know you," grumbled Milan. Ciel took her own advice and ignored him. The small reploid just smiled. The events of the night seemed like something from another lifetime. Perhaps in this old city, they could really find a new peace.


	2. Seven Days after the Reploid Rebellion

**Zero Purpose**

_Neo Arcadia, Seven Days after the Reploid Rebellion, 0800 hour_

The hall echoed with the sound of his metallic steps as he calmly strolled through the government building. The sound of idle chatter was missing from the offices that he passed by. Everything was eerily silent, except for the occasional metallic clatter that rang out when a reploid bumped into something. He sighed. Mindless reploids had replaced those that had been deemed "Maverick," but with the convenience of having lower powered reploids, he had to put up with the reploids' somewhat jerky movements. For a reason that was never understood, the reploids that imitated humans in emotions also seemed to be able to move more smoothly, like a human, without bumping into things as these new reploids were prone to do. Unfortunately, the last of those reploids in the government building had fled seven days ago, when the head scientist, Dr. Ciel, had planned the reploid rebellion.

Rebellion was too strong a word for what occurred a week ago. It was more like "The Reploid Escape," but due to media reasons, "rebellion" had been chosen to dub the events of that night. That word turned the public against the escaped reploids, and also caused them to mistrust those reploids that had not escaped with the others. All in all, it had been a wise decision to call the event a rebellion, but it was a decision that did not sit well with Harpuia. It felt so…underhanded to him.

"Master Harpuia, here's the log for Neo Arcadia's defense barrier," a monotone voice said, handing him a stack of papers a foot high. "Awaiting next duty," it said, and stood there, unmoving.

"Hmm," Harpuia said, quickly glancing at the first page of the log. He felt his energy core suddenly flare with energy, before he suppressed it. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, not a hint of impatience in his words. The reploid went to his side, and looked at the first page.

"The meaning of what, sir?" the reploid asked mechanically.

"Of this entire stack!" Harpuia said, finally losing his patience.

"It is the log of Neo Arcadia's defense barrier," the reploid replied, stating the obvious.

"Yes, but this log only shows what wildlife was stupid enough to approach the barrier and fry itself to death! What am I supposed to do with a log of dead animals?" he asked angrily. He was tempted to rub his temples like a human. If he had his information specialist, then he wouldn't have to put up with this moronic reploid. Unfortunately for him, the information specialist had also run off during the rebellion.

"Shall I compile a list of plants that have also touched the barrier?" the reploid asked, completely missing the point. This time, Harpuia did slap himself on the forehead.

"Now, now, no use in getting angry," a familiar, deep and quiet voice said. "The reploid is only doing what it's programmed to do."

"Why couldn't someone program some common sense into these things?" he said, once again regaining his calm.

"Then we'd just have another batch of 'Mavericks,' wouldn't we?" the other guardian replied. "Reploid, search for Neo Arcadia's defense barrier's power usage log on day zero-seven, month X, year 22XX, from 1800 to 2400 hour. Confirm command."

"Command confirmed," the other reploid replied dutifully.

"Then go." The other reploid walked off, the hall echoing with its predictable pattern of steps. "This time, it is sure to return with the correct information."

"It should have given me the correct information the first time around," Harpuia said, watching the other reploid disappear down the hall. "A human would not have made the same mistake."

"And neither would a humanoid reploid," the other filled in the unspoken words. "The reality is those reploids can no longer be used. The sooner you accept that fact, the sooner the system will become more efficient again."

"You forget that we, too, are of the type of reploids that are being retired," he said, his voice dropping to a quieter tone.

"We won't be retired anytime soon," the other reploid said confidently. "As much as the government wants to save energy to allocate to the other humans, they don't want to get rid of the higher up reploids that they have to interact with on a daily basis. They don't like interacting with the idiotic reploids that they have been replacing this building with. They like how we act and respond like humans, even if it means we're wasting their precious energy by doing so."

"So it's ok for them to have human-like reploids, but it's not ok for everyone else?" Harpuia asked rhetorically, indignant with the government. Many of his co-workers and friends had already disappeared under the new law. The other guardian simply shrugged.

"Be glad that I'm your friend, otherwise I'd have to report that little act of insurrection," he said, quickly scanning the perimeter for anyone that would have overheard their conversation.

"With those espionage reports you're bringing in daily, I doubt that they would pay attention to the few words that I've said," Harpuia replied casually, waving a hand in the air as if to brush the problem away.

"That may be true," he said quietly. "But what about Master X?" Harpuia looked at him sharply.

"Phantom…" he started.

"You needn't worry about anything," he said, turning away from Harpuia, walking down the hall. "I am loyal only to you." Before Harpuia could give a reply, the other guardian disappeared, much like the phantom that he was named for. Harpuia continued his inspection in the other direction of the hall, the mechanical silence once again filling his senses.

_Neo Arcadia, Core, Seven Days after Reploid Rebellion, 1500 hour_

His hand hesitated over the door, not quite sure if he was supposed to knock or not. He knew that if he keyed in the code, or at least stepped in front of the door and announced his name, he would be granted instant access into the room. Yet, X had insisted that others knock on the door before entering. It was an old custom that had existed in the days when doors still had hinges, but in the era of automatic doors, it was a pretty useless custom. The door would open before one could even knock on it.

But then, there were always doors like this one; doors that did not grant access to everyone. He supposed it acted as a lock of sorts, though locked doors were a little different. Locked doors granted access to only the one who held the code to open the lock. These types of doors existed mainly to force entrants to announce themselves. Entrants like himself.

Knock. Knock.

"Master X?" he asked uncertainly.

"Harpuia! What took you so long?" a playful, feminine voice called out. The two doors slid open, revealing the three guardians of Neo Arcadia and the re-created master of the city.

"What were you doing? Playing around with the fools in parliament again?" a gruff voice said. "You're the last one here."

"I was picking up the defense barrier's report," Harpuia said, walking into X's office. "It seems that Dr. Ciel was really the one who turned it off. There's no one else who could have passed through all the security checks."

"We're still sticking with the story of her being kidnapped," Phantom said, looking like a shadow near the wall. "It would help us with our campaign against the Mavericks."

"They have already left the city. They should no longer be a problem for us," Harpuia said, beginning to frown. He looked at the others, and saw in their faces that they were indeed going to pursue the runaway reploids. "Why--"

"Those reploids have broken the law and therefore must be pursued," the calm voice of X said. "We can't let lawbreakers get away without their due punishment."

"What law did they break? This situation can simply be overlooked as an improperly documented case of mass immigration," Harpuia said, not happy with how the situation was turning out. "There's no law that prevents reploids from moving at their free will."

"No, but there is a law that prevents any Neo Arcadian from leaving the city," Leviathan said quietly, lacking her usual playful tone.

"What?" Harpuia asked angrily. "There's no such law. If there were, don't you think I would be the first to know?"

"It was enacted seven days ago," Fefnir said, poking at an energy crystal on X's desk. "And none of us knew about it until a few minutes ago."

"What?" was all Harpuia could get out.

"Someone in parliament knew about what was going to happen," Phantom said, his eyes still shut, leaning against the wall, "and so they created a law that they knew those reploids would break if they escaped from their persecution."

"Why?" Harpuia asked, his voice cool with anger.

"They want us to pursue the reploids, and hopefully cause a war-like situation while doing it," X said with barely suppressed anger. "Reploids destroying reploids. It would do more than quell reploid energy consumption."

"If they desire the destruction of reploids, all they have to do is create a law that forbids manufacturing, buying, or using reploids."

"And risk public disapproval? They are already unpopular for getting rid of 'Maverick' reploids and their poor handling of the energy shortage."

"And starting a war will help them with the energy shortage? If anything, it'll make matters worse," Harpuia said, shaking his head.

"It'll only make things worse in the beginning," Leviathan said, trying to explain the parliament's reasoning. "When the war is over, there won't be enough reploids to pose that much of a threat to the energy allocation."

"There also won't be many reploids left to oppose the government," Fefnir said, walking over to the large window and crossing his arms in irritation. "The government would be able to do anything. The people won't have enough power to go against the government, especially without reploids acting as firepower."

"All in all, it's a good plan," Phantom said, finally moving away from the wall, and heading towards the rest of the group. "They get rid of the problems that the energy crisis has caused, change public opinion about reploids, and render the public powerless to stop the government by force."

"And we're going to help them accomplish this?" Harpuia asked coldly. "Correct me if I'm mistaken, but weren't we created to help the public achieve peace?"

"By carrying out parliament's will, we will be helping the public achieve peace," X finally said, his back facing towards them. They could see the reploid's reflection in the glass window overlooking the city. His words had been firm, but his face revealed the uncertainty he felt about what they were going to do. "We have to believe in the humans. We have to believe that they will make decisions that will be the best for all of them."

"What part of this decision even _hints_ of having been done for the good of Neo Arcadia?" Harpuia asked, trying not to sound angry. Fefnir simply continued poking the energy crystal while Leviathan shrugged, seeming not to care. Phantom shook his head slightly, as if in warning.

"All of us were created to obey and serve humans," X said, his voice sharp and unforgiving. "I will not tolerate any dissent against the humans. Do you understand, Sage Harpuia?" Harpuia turned away, his fist shaking with the sudden surge of energy that flowed into it.

"Yes, Master X," he managed to say in as neutral a tone as he could muster.

"Good. We will commence the attack on the rebel reploids at 1800 hours. Prepare your troops well," X said, turning around and entering some information into the computer. "I will give you your specific locations later. Until then, you are dismissed."

"Yes, sir," the four guardians said in unison, saluting the "leader" of Neo Arcadia. They quickly left their superior's office, but not without taking a peek at their leader's face. They couldn't believe that X would willingly go with the parliament's plan, and upon looking back at him, their suspicions were confirmed. X was as reluctant to attack the renegade reploids as they were. But orders were orders, and a copy had no place in voicing his opinion in the government.

_Arcadia, 1730 hour_

Water sloshed around her boots as she waded through the dark sewer, the thin beam of light from her flashlight the only thing illuminating her path. Even through her gloves, she could feel the moisture of the walls as she ran her hand against the wall, using them as a second guide through the dark sewer. She checked the rope around her waist again, not wanting to lose her only way out of the underground maze. Looking behind her, she could see the reassuring presence of the length of rope marking the way she had come. She checked the rope around her waist again, and continued making her way into the depths of the sewer.

"Are you getting all of this, Cerveau?" she asked, speaking into the microphone attached to her earpiece. "I don't want to be walking around down here for nothing."

"Yeah, yeah, your signal is still coming strong," came the crackling reply from the other end. "The other units have also almost finished charting the sewers down there. Just a little longer and we'll have the entire sewer system mapped out."

"Then I can finally get out of here," Ciel said cheerfully, releasing a little more rope behind her. A splash echoed through the tunnel.

"If you want to get out so badly, you should have let one of us go in the first place," Cerveau laughed. Ciel could imagine him shaking his head in the computer room and laughed with him.

"I can't just sit in front of the computer all day and not move around. Doing all that research gets tiring, you know," Ciel said, almost slipping into the murky water. "Ugh. Sewers are so disgusting. I almost fell in the water."

"Be glad that there haven't been people dumping their waste into the water for a while, or else you'd be fainting into the water," Cerveau said, sounding slightly distracted. "Humans can't turn off their senses like reploids can."

"Reploids can't feel their socks getting soaked either," Ciel complained. "Sometimes I wish I were a reploid." She heard a splash behind her, and turned to look. The small tunnel of light from her flashlight didn't reveal anything incriminating. She shrugged and continued on her way.

"Don't worry, you should be finishing soon," reassured Cerveau. "You're nearing the edge of the city." Another splash sounded behind her.

"Cerveau, you didn't send someone after me, right?" Ciel asked nervously. Her eyes darted quickly around her, but still she didn't see anyone.

"And risk getting you angry with me? Not a chance." Ciel reached to the necklace around her neck, finally breaking the small capsule next to her pendant. Sparks of light flew around her as the cyber-elf was freed from its container. It hovered around her as she turned off her flashlight, groping around her belt for her buster.

"Ciel?" the cyber-elf asked questioningly.

"Go over there," Ciel whispered, pointing to the direction of the splash. She gripped her buster tightly, her hands shaking slightly. "Who are you? Reveal yourself, or I'll shoot!" The cyber-elf hovered over to Ciel's directed area, lighting up the tunnel as it went. From the elf's light, Ciel saw a familiar blond head among the dark waters.

"It's me," the little reploid whispered, looking forlornly at Ciel. The reploid kicked at the water in anxiety.

"You're that reploid from, what, seven days ago?" Ciel asked, recognizing the reploid child. The girl nodded her head.

"I'm sorry for following you. Please don't be angry," she squeaked, ready to flee at the slightest provocation. "I was just a little worried…"

"Cerveau, were you the one who planned this?" Ciel asked in mock irritation.

"It wasn't me! It was Milan. He's the one who said he would get you a reploid escort no matter what," Cerveau responded defensively.

"Milan, eh?" Ciel said somewhat evilly. She noticed the little reploid looking slightly afraid of her. "Oh, don't worry! I'm not going to do anything to you," Ciel grinned, gesturing for the girl to come closer to her. "Since you're here, let's explore the rest of this tunnel together." The girl gave an uncertain smile and walked closer to her, while she put her buster away and turned her flashlight on again.

"Ciel, do you want me to go back into the capsule?" her cyber-elf asked, reaching Ciel. Ciel shook her head.

"It's been a long time since you've last been out, and since I'm not doing any research on you, there's no point in putting you back in the capsule again," she said, holding the little girl's hand and continuing down the sewer. "Besides, you're much brighter than my flashlight."

"Always glad to be of service," the cyber-elf laughed.

"Hey, Cerveau, how much farther until I start turning back?" Ciel asked. Once the entire sewer system was charted, she and the other reploids could start thinking of an escape route to be used just in case someone attacked. But before she could do that, she had to finish mapping her part of the sewer, and walk all the way back. She was beginning to think that Cerveau was right. A reploid wouldn't be feeling as soggy and tired as she was. Perhaps she should have let a reploid do the job?

"Cerveau, answer me." She was greeted with static. She tapped her earpiece, wondering if it was malfunctioning. "Hello?"

"Ciel, do you hear that?" the reploid whispered, sounding afraid. Ciel stopped her tapping and listened, wondering what she was listening for.

"I don't--"

"Shh! Listen!" her cyber-elf hissed, eyes darting to the ceiling of the sewer, looking worried. Ciel looked up too, but she didn't hear or see anything. She sighed, and was about to attribute it to something that everyone else was imagining, when she noticed that the floor seemed to be shaking. Not only that, but the water around her seemed to be shaking with more ripples than it was possible for them to create.

"Something's wrong," Ciel frowned, worry creasing her face. "Cerveau! Cerveau, answer me!"

"Ciel! Keep running forward! Now!" came the urgent command before it was cut off with more static. Ciel looked at the others, worry and fear on her face, before running in the direction that she had been heading, pulling the reploid along with her while her cyber-elf followed dutifully. They splashed their way through the watery hallway, each becoming more afraid as they began to hear thundering noises above them, and gunfire echoing in the sewers.

"What's happening?" the child asked, eyes wide with panic. Ciel gripped the child's hand tighter. She didn't have an answer to give and just kept running.

"Dr. Ciel. Dr. Ciel, if you can hear me, cut off the rope that's connected to you," a calm voice said, the sentence punctuated with static interruptions and breaks. "I repeat, cut off the rope that leads to you."

"Hirondelle? Hirondelle, is that you?" Ciel called into the communicator, beginning to panic. When she didn't get a response, she began fumbling in the dark, trying to untie the knot on the rope around her waist. She let out a strangled scream in frustration, as her wet hands simply slipped off the rope.

"Ciel, do you have a knife?" her cyber-elf asked, as the reploid also tried to help Ciel with the knot.

"No, but I have a blaster," Ciel said as the idea suddenly came to her. She removed the blaster from the pouch on her belt, and took aim at the length of rope floating in the water next to her. She was about to fire when she felt someone tugging on the rope, causing her to slip and fall into the water. She let out a scream as she fell, losing her hold on her weapon, feeling helpless as someone continued to pull her back.

"Ciel!" both the reploid and cyber-elf screamed, running after her. The reploid picked up the dropped blaster, and quickly aimed at a rope farther back in the tunnel. She prayed that she wouldn't hit Ciel, and pressed the trigger just as she heard a large number of splashing down the tunnel where she had come from. There were shouts and bouts of gunfire, and the little girl added to the sounds, firing at the rope. Water sizzled and evaporated as the shot connected with the rope, burning the line off from Ciel.

"Thank you," Ciel gasped, pulling herself out of the water and starting to run again. "We have to get out of here!"

"Ciel, the path splits up ahead! Which way do we go?" the cyber-elf asked, flying back to her. A blast sounded behind them, shaking the entire tunnel.

"Uh…" Ciel panted, looking behind her while trying to decide. "0NB9, any ideas?"

"Right!" the girl shouted, shutting her eyes as Ciel yanked her to the right tunnel. A blast of heat suddenly enveloped the tunnel they had been in, creating a brief wall of flame. The reploid didn't have time to scream as Ciel continued pulling her along, beads of sweat rolling down her face from the heat.

"I'm sure we're almost to the end of the sewer," Ciel said, breathing hard. "Cerveau said we were almost to the end, didn't he?"

"Up ahead…I think I see some light," the cyber-elf said, flying a little ahead of them. It suddenly stopped and flew back in panic. "Go back!" Ciel and the little reploid halted abruptly, but froze in their tracks, the sudden order taking them by surprise. Someone tackled them from behind, knocking the human and reploid into the dark water. Shots fired over the place where they had been standing.

Ciel gasped as her head broke the surface of the water, breathing in much needed air. 0NB9 grabbed her hand fearfully, looking at the one who had knocked them over. The second reploid picked himself out of the water, shaking his head a little and spraying droplets of water on them. Ciel held the small reploid close to her, grabbing her blaster and aiming it at the other reploid.

"Whoa! I'm on your side!" the other reploid said quickly, holding up both of his hands in peace. "I'm 0NB6. Well, you probably don't remember me. I look like the other reploids, anyway."

"He saved you from getting shot," the cyber-elf added, trying to get Ciel to lower her blaster. Ciel let out a suppressed cry as she dropped the blaster, burying her head in her hands.

"I'd pick up that blaster if I were you," 0NB6 said, readying his own blaster. "There are enemies before and behind us."

"Where did you come from?" Ciel asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Using one hand to support her against the wall, she stood up, trying to calm herself by breathing deeply.

"I followed the rope you left behind," he said, gently pushing the smaller reploid against the wall. He looked behind him, and after waiting a while, sighed in disappointment. "Seems like I was the only one who survived that blast from the flamethrower. We can't go back that way. There are hordes of Neo Arcadians there."

"But someone from the other direction just fired at Ciel!" the cyber-elf cried, lost as to what they could do.

"There's probably just one reploid on the other direction," Ciel said, finally regaining her calm. She picked up her blaster, and listened to the familiar whirr as the blaster began charging up. "It only fired a few shots right?" The cyber-elf nodded in affirmation. "If it's just one or two, then the two of us should be able to deal with it." She looked at the other reploid.

"You can count on me," he said, nodding. The small group proceeded in their previous direction, listening closely as the sound of someone splashing approached them. The single red eye of the Neo Arcadian reploid stared at them, locking them into its sights. Lifting the blaster, it prepared to shoot them, but was blasted apart by the charged bullet of Ciel's blaster, its parts exploding into the water.

"Hurry! Before more come," the cyber-elf said, flying before them and looking up at the opened manhole. The group quickly ran past the opening, delving deeper into the sewers. They could hear the screams of unfortunate reploids above them, as the sound of gunfire and explosions traveled below to them, dulled by the water in the sewer.

The sounds continued for hours, and for hours they trudged through the sewers, trying to ignore the destruction above them while keeping an eye out for enemies. There was the occasional panicky moment when splashes could be heard echoing behind them, but it was a miracle that they remained nothing more than echoes. Finally they reached a dead end, and they huddled together, listening for the sounds of warfare while looking up at the closed manhole above them.

"I'll go up and look around," Ciel broke the silence. She placed the buster on her belt and moved towards the ladder, when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at the male reploid, an unspoken question in her eyes.

"I'll go. You're far too important to risk your life to scout around," he said, pulling her away from the ladder. "Let an unimportant number do the job."

"What are you—" Ciel started.

"You and I both know it's true," the reploid said, starting up the ladder. "We need you to research an alternative source of energy. You're the only one who can do it. I know I sure can't." He stopped at the manhole, listening for any strange sounds.

"You!" Ciel hissed, trying to keep her voice down. He looked down at her. "You…you're not just a number! Just…be careful, you hear?" she said, holding the smaller reploid's hand tightly. "We'll be waiting for you here, so you'd better be careful." The other reploid smiled and nodded, then carefully lifted the manhole slightly, looking around for any enemies. When the coast seemed clear, he lifted the entire metal plate off, climbing out of the sewers. A little distance away, he could see the beginning of the desert, and behind him, he could see the remnants of an abandoned human residential district. The stars twinkled above him peacefully, belying the danger and destruction that filled the city behind them. He quickly looked around his surroundings, listening for any suspicious noises, and when he was satisfied that it was safe, he called down to the sewers, asking for them to come up.

Ciel looked at the calm night, a slight wind blowing grains of sand around her. She felt like she had walked out of a dream into another dream; the world felt so surreal to her. She rubbed her arms, her wet clothes making her feel colder in the night wind.

"Should we continue on, or find someplace to stay for the night?" Ciel wondered out loud.

"Depends on you. We reploids can go on until we run out of energy," 0NB6 said, shrugging. "In fact, it'd be better for us to keep on going, rather than waste precious energy resting here. If we keep going, we might be able to find some hidden stores of energy crystals while escaping Neo Arcadia, but if we stay here, we might be able to find some left over energy crystal, but it's almost certain that Neo Arcadians will follow the sewer routes and find us."

"Let's keep going then," Ciel said, beginning to head towards the desert. "I don't think I can sleep tonight anyway. And you're wrong," she said, turning towards the taller reploid. "Even for humans, it would be bad to stay here. I need to keep going while I'm still not faint with hunger."

"But, Ciel, what will you do when you do get hungry?" the smaller reploid asked, following her anyway.

"I'll deal with that when it happens," she said, not once looking back. "There wouldn't be any food left in that old, abandoned part of the city anyway. Someone would have taken it after all these years. Our only hope now is to keep going, and hopefully we'll find a place that safe from Neo Arcadia." The taller reploid was about to remark that such a place was impossible to find, but upon looking at the hopeful expression on the smaller reploid's face, he decided to hold his tongue. The group then began its trudge through sand this time, the windy silence a comforting presence after the sounds of combat.


	3. Neo Arcadia

**Zero Purpose**

_Neo Arcadia, Core, 2400 hour_

The city slept peacefully below him, a few lights still lit, twinkling like stars in the night sky. He shook his head to get rid of the illusion of peace, turning to look at the large monitor behind him, the screen split to reveal different locations of the battle taking place below the tranquil city. He gently touched one of the screens, enlarging the image to reveal the scene of reploids being blasted away by large cannons, never given the chance to even resist. Many of the rebel reploids were giving up, standing in front of the Neo Arcadian soldiers while volley after volley of shots were fired into them, finally exploding and scattering their broken remains. Many more were screaming and running in fright, while a few tried desperately to resist the attack. This was no military campaign that was occurring. It was a massacre.

"I…I was created to serve and protect humans," he said, his voice firm with resolve. But his heart was a different matter. It was true that he was created primarily to serve the good of humanity, but massacring helpless innocents went against his programming. Even if they weren't humans, he still felt the need to protect them, to protect the weak from being oppressed by those with power. However…

"I wonder if the original X would have this same dilemma?" he wondered out loud to himself, chuckling bitterly. "Would the original X hesitate to help those reploids? Or would he not waver at all to carry out the will of the humans?" He sat down in front of the monitor heavily, watching the destruction occur before his eyes as he did nothing. The screams of dying reploids echoed through his processor, abruptly cut off by explosions and gunfire. He quickly muted the computer, letting only the images reach him.

"Dr. Ciel…why did you create me?" he asked the empty room. He could almost see her standing next to his desk, smiling excitedly as she attempted to instruct him on how to run the city. The image faded from his memory, replaced with the dark reality. There was no one there. There would be no one there.

He wasn't the real X, and he would never be the real X. No matter how hard he tried, how hard he attempted to act like the original, no one would ever acknowledge him as the original. He was only a copy in all of their minds. He was worst than the other reploids. At least they were recognized as being an individual, while he did not even have that luxury. He was no one. He could never be an individual because the reality was that he was not individual. He was a copy, a supposed perfect copy of a hero that had disappeared from this world. But even as a perfect copy, he could not be recognized as a hero. Because he had not performed the deeds that had made X a hero, because he had not shown his merit, because he had not used his own will to become a hero.

He was a puppet with a mind of its own, and that was the worst existence of all. He could see the world around him, wish and will to act, but could not do anything since the one who controlled the strings to his limbs was not himself. He was a hollow symbol, created to reassure the people, but to have no means to reassure them. He touched his face, his fingers hovering the soft covering over the metal frame. He looked like X, but that was it. He could never know if his actions were what X would have done. He could never know if X had the thoughts that he had. He could never know if he was really the original X, given a new life, or if he was really an incomplete copy. And as long as he didn't know, he couldn't really exist in this world. He could only doubt his every word and action, always wondering if he was playing the role of "X" successfully. And even if he played that role perfectly, no one would acknowledge him as X. His efforts would always be in vain, so long as he looked like the legendary hero.

He laughed quietly to himself. What was he having these thoughts for? So long as he did what he was supposed to do, then he had nothing to worry about. But then…what _was_ he supposed to be doing? Protect innocent reploids from destruction? Or eradicate them for the sake of humanity?

He sighed. He was going in circles. He had always been this way, wavering after making his decisions. No… Not he. It was X who had been this way, not him. It was from X's memory that he had his past, from X's programming that he had his personality. But X couldn't give him the strength to defy humans, to go against what he was created for. X gave him a past, but he didn't give him a future. All he had were broken memories, dreams that weren't his, and someone that would not fade from his consciousness.

Many of his memories were perforated with a companion, a partner, perhaps even a friend who stood by his side, supporting him, lending him a hand when he needed it. It seemed like he was always there when he most needed him, an un-shaking, constant pillar.

And it was true: Zero wouldn't be fighting himself like he was now. Zero wouldn't be debating over being the original or being a copy. Zero would find a goal, accomplish it, then fade away from the limelight. He had always faded away after missions, never really celebrating with the others, even when they had won a great battle. And one day, he faded permanently away, never returning to the light again. Just like X did.

X hadn't known why Zero had disappeared, just like he didn't know why X had disappeared. It seemed to him that legendary heroes had a habit of pulling the disappearing act when it seemed that peace had established itself. But if he remembered correctly, heroes were supposed to reappear during a time of crisis, and if there ever was a time when a hero was needed, it was now.

He had been created as a replacement for a hero, but he knew, and everyone else knew that he was no hero. There were times when he was alone, away from his work that he cursed those who decided to re-create X. He didn't blame Dr. Ciel. He knew that she had planned on making him the real X, even if she had been too naïve to realize that it was impossible. He blamed those old fools who thought that creating a symbol to rule the people was a good idea. He blamed those humans who didn't look at reploids as having a life of their own, as only pieces of metal stuck together. He blamed X for disappearing.

Even so, he cherished the memories that X had left him. It seemed like those were the only memories worth keeping to him. The memories that he had made since his "rebirth" were nothing to be noted. It was from X's memories that he knew what friendship was, but it was also from those very same memories that he felt alone and stranded in this world. Sometimes, he wished that those that had created him had also decided to create Zero. He missed the feeling of knowing that his back was always watched, that he was never truly alone. And Zero was the only one who could crack jokes with a straight face.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. He wanted to talk to Zero again, even if that Zero was just a copy, even if the memories they shared weren't truly theirs. He wanted to be able to go on a mission, and engage the enemy without a word to his partner, each synchronizing their moves with the other and destroying enemies as if they were nothing. He wanted that silent companion that understood him without him saying a word. But he knew that what he wanted was something that he could never get.

Zero was gone. X was gone. Only he was left.

The monitor flashed with an incoming call. He shut his eyes, trying to block the world around him for a little longer. The signal continued to flash a steady pulse, hypnotizing in its regularity. Finally he opened his eyes and hit the transmission button, allowing the reploid to deliver its message.

"Master X, a few suspected resistance members have been spotted to the south," the reploid said in a monotone voice, not remarking on the length of time he had taken to receive the call. They were all the same, groveling and fearing him, never questioning his decisions. Even his four guardians were the same. He had hoped that at least Harpuia would put more effort into resisting his decisions, but time and time again, he had been disappointed. They didn't see him as a fellow reploid, a comrade. They saw him as lord and master, and subjugated themselves to his control. Perhaps the only ones who could have seen him as a friend were those rebel reploids, but now there was no chance of that. He was an enemy that needed to be destroyed, just like his mission was now to eradicate every last one of them.

"Shall I send you their coordinates?" the reploid asked in a flat tone at the other end of the line. The reploid waited in silence for its master's reply.

"How many of them are there?" X said tiredly, rubbing his face with one hand. His sharp blue eyes stared into the visor of the reploid, recognizing that this was one of the few older model reploids that were still in use in the more remote parts of the government. For some reason, he was glad that he was speaking to this reploid, rather than to one of the newer, single-eyed models. He felt uncomfortable communicating with those Cyclops-like reploids, not to mention it was difficult to get them to do what one wanted.

"Four members in total: two reploids, one cyber-elf, one human," the reploid said mechanically. "The reploids are standard service reploids, one male adult model, one female child model."

"Wait, did you say there was a human?" X asked, leaning closer to the monitor. If it was Dr. Ciel, then it might be possible to persuade her to return to Neo Arcadia and once again help the city towards peace.

"Affirmative, one human, two reploids, one cyber-elf," the reploid repeated again. As if to read his mind, the reploid added, "The human has been identified as Dr. Ciel. Send a pursuing unit?"

"Yes."

"Clarifications on the condition of retrieved units?" the reploid asked emotionlessly. X blinked a few times, not understanding what the reploid meant. When it finally dawned on him, he was about to respond that it should have been obvious to take them all back unharmed, but he realized that that was not the obvious answer. In fact, it would be more reasonable to destroy all units other than the human. But destroying innocents went against his programming…

"Permission to give calculated directive?" the reploid asked while he hesitated. He looked questioningly at the reploid. "It is advisable to destroy all rebel reploid units to minimize the amount of resistance," the reploid continued on without waiting for a reply. "Dr. Ciel and the cyber-elf should be captured without harm; both can be used for the good of Neo Arcadia." He agreed with that advice, but to him, it was too heartless a move. He was about to give his confirmation when the reploid spoke again.

"However, I believe such measures are unnecessary," the reploid said, doing very well in keeping its emotionless mask. "Simply damage the adult reploid's gun arm and capture the doctor and the cyber-elf. It is unnecessary to destroy or bring back the two renegade reploids."

"…I see," he said, looking at the reploid closely. The reploid was bordering dangerously close to being labeled a Maverick, and it was a fact that they both knew. The reploid had not been asked for its opinion, yet had expressed it anyway. X sighed, rubbing the creases on his forehead and laughing quietly to himself. He supposed he should also be labeled a Maverick for agreeing with the reploid's suggestion.

"What is your name?" he asked, genuinely interested. He wasn't about to let a reploid that would dare give him suggestions slip out of his hands so easily. He knew that by law, all reploids in the government should have been retired some time ago, but on the outskirts of Neo Arcadia, the law was more difficult to uphold. Apparently, someone in the government had decided to ignore orders, and for that, he was glad.

"I am just another number," the reploid evaded his question, his expression not once changing.

"Is that so? Then what do your friends call you?" X persisted, ignoring his duties to the city. If the rebel reploids escaped, then so be it. He hadn't really wanted to chase after them anyway.

"Sir, I am a reploid. Reploids do not have friends," he said sternly, frowning at the leader of Neo Arcadia.

"Reploids…don't have friends, huh?" X sighed, leaning back in his chair once more. "If that were true, what a sad existence reploids would have."

"Sir?" the other reploid said uncertainly.

"Never mind me," he said, sitting up straight and re-entering his role as X, the hero of Neo Arcadia. "Commence the retrieval of Dr. Ciel and the cyber-elf. Minimize the damage dealt on both sides."

"Yes, sir!" the reploid saluted. X reached over to turn the transmission off when he suddenly received a set of coordinates from the other reploid. He looked at the numbers, and then looked questioningly at the reploid.

"If you have time, you might find something interesting in that abandoned laboratory," the reploid said in a business-like tone. X raised an eyebrow at him, demanding further explanation. The reploid didn't give it to him. "And sir," the reploid said when he was about to cut the transmission once more. He looked at the reploid, wondering if the reploid _wanted_ to be labeled a Maverick and retired. "When I still had friends, they called me Axl." The reploid then cut the transmission with a small beep, not allowing X to even get a word in. He continued to stare at the blank transmission screen for several minutes, wondering. In the end, he simply began observing the battle scenes again, giving instructions when it was necessary.

_Desert, South of Neo Arcadia_

Ciel tried to walk carefully to limit the amount of sand that kept entering her boots. The quiet shuffling of sand could be heard in the silence of the night as the group continued their trek through the vast desert, hoping that by some miracle they would stumble upon a livable shelter. Ciel looked up at the sky, wondering how long they had been traveling. The sky was dark without a hint of dawn. She wondered if she should be thankful for the dark cover of night, or whether she should dread that same darkness that kept her from seeing where she was going. She stared at the back of 0NB6, wishing that she could see as well as the reploids in darkness.

"Do you hear that?" the small reploid beside her asked quietly, staring at a certain direction in the darkness. Ciel looked nervously at the reploid. The last time the little girl had said that, they had been invaded. She wondered what would happen this time if the reploid really did hear something.

"There's something coming towards us," the taller reploid said, frowning. "What should we do?"

"Maybe it'll pass us by," Ciel said hopefully, though she really thought otherwise.

"Maybe it's someone from the resistance," the cyber-elf suggested without much conviction.

"Sure, Passy, and pigs fly," Ciel said, her fear turning into irritation.

"Should we hide?" 0NB9 said, holding Ciel's hand even tighter.

"Their scanners will detect us, if they haven't already," Ciel said, taking her blaster out again. She let the small weapon begin charging up. "If they're Neo Arcadian soldiers, then I won't hold anything back." The taller reploid nodded, also charging his blaster. They all secretly hoped it was someone from the resistance, even if that hope defied logic. It was likely that most of the resistance had been destroyed in Neo Arcadia's last attack, and it would be a miracle if a resistance member managed to hijack a Neo Arcadian ship and find them.

The sound of an engine's roar became louder as the aircraft approached them. Ciel pushed the smaller reploid behind her, and signaled for the cyber-elf to hide in the sands to block its light. Sand began to blow into her face as the aircraft inched ever closer to their position while they waited like prey in a burrow. Suddenly, the searchlight on the hovercraft switched on, illuminating their position for all to see. Ciel covered her eyes from the bright light, temporarily blinded, while her finger hovered over the trigger on the buster.

"Dr. Ciel, please return with us peacefully to Neo Arcadia," a voice announced from the aircraft. "Do not resist, or we will be forced to open fire." Ciel looked at 0NB6 worriedly. If she went without resisting, then maybe the two reploids could escape out of this ordeal unharmed. It was her fault that the other reploids in Neo Arcadia had been attacked by the soldiers, but if she could at least save these two, then she would be more than willing to hand her life back to Neo Arcadia. She took a step forward.

"Dr. Ciel!" 0NB6 hissed, trying to pull her back. She shook his hand off of her shoulder, facing the bright light.

"Do you guarantee the safety of these two if I go with you?" she asked, maneuvering herself so that she was blocking the two reploids from the ship's line of fire. If they didn't mean to honor their word, then at least she would be blocking them from harming the two reploids.

"Affirmative," the voice announced. The aircraft began lowering itself onto the ground, blowing sand in all directions. Ciel didn't dare turn around to look at 0NB6's face. She knew that he wouldn't be happy with her decision.

Single-eyed soldiers exited from the aircraft, aiming their blasters at the small group. Ciel gulped, hoping that that was just a precautionary action. Suddenly, a blast was fired and the aircraft exploded, throwing Ciel to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She felt a pair of hands help her to her feet, pulling her away from the smoking remains of the hovercraft. The red-eyed reploids that had survived the blast looked around in confusion, not knowing how to respond in such a situation.

"Use your legs! Run, Dr. Ciel!" the reploid yelled at her, continuing to pull her along. She felt as confused as the Neo Arcadian reploids, staring at 0NB6 without really seeing him. "Hurry! Before they start chasing us!" Her mind finally clicked, and she ran with the two reploids and the single cyber-elf, trying to escape the destruction behind them.

"What happened?" Ciel gasped as shots flew past her into the soft sand.

"I decided to shoot the plane," the taller reploid said simply, ducking behind a sand dune and firing back at the reploids. He then rejoined Ciel and continued to run.

"W-Why?" Ciel asked, also turning around and firing at the reploids occasionally.

"They were going to take Ciel away," the small reploid said, sounding like she was about to cry.

"I told you already. You're the only one who can help us now," 0NB6 said, destroying a few reploids. "If you go back to Neo Arcadia, you won't be able to escape again, and then we 'Mavericks' will all be doomed."

"But look at your situation now!" Ciel said angrily, blasting the head off of a reploid. "Now you're being attacked when you could've gotten away safely!"

"The safety of one reploid means nothing," he replied calmly, starting to regret his decision as the number of Neo Arcadians didn't seem to be decreasing. His system was starting to overheat from his constant firing then hiding behind sand dunes while running. "I am prepared to sacrifice myself if it means that by my sacrifice I can aide others toward a world where reploids and humans can live in equality." He looked worriedly at the smaller reploid, knowing that his decision had really left them with but a single path to follow. The small reploid didn't understand what they were fighting for, and he felt bad for dragging her into a situation that might cause her destruction. He had prepared to sacrifice himself, not sacrifice others, but he saw now that the situation couldn't be helped. Whether they liked it or not, they were in a situation that could not be reversed.

"I don't want anyone to be sacrificed!" Ciel cried angrily, taking her anger out on the mindless hoard of reploids behind her. "There have been enough deaths. Why must you add your name to the list?"

"Please understand that I am just a nameless number!" he said, becoming as angry as the scientist. He wondered if his overheating system was causing him to become short-tempered. He had never felt himself become so angry before.

Ciel was about to retort when her cyber-elf suddenly shouted, "Watch out!" She turned around, only to scream as an energy bullet knocked her blaster out of her hands. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw the enemy reploids approach them quickly. She hastily knelt down in the sands, running her hands through the fine grains, attempting to recover her weapon.

"Get behind me!" the taller reploid commanded, pulling Ciel behind him and firing at the advancing reploids.

"My blaster. Where's my blaster?" Ciel asked in panic, still trying to search for her lost weapon.

"Ciel, let's keep going," the small reploid pleaded desperately, trying to pull the scientist along with her.

"Let's just make a run for it," 0NB6 said, grabbing Ciel's other arm and running. "My cheap blaster is beginning to overheat." He felt a sudden pain in his arm, and then nothing as the sensors on his arm were cut off from the rest of his body by a succession of three bullets. His arm hung limply, no longer able to hold his blaster while his mind was flooded with pain. Warnings and damage reports flashed in his mind as his body tried to force him to repair his injury. He quickly shoved those processes to the back of the line, concentrating on getting Ciel and the other reploid out of the situation safely.

Ciel screamed as the three bullets flew past her, releasing the reploid's hold on his weapon. She saw his injured right arm, and quickly picked up his weapon, firing it in his stead.

"We can't run like this!" she shouted, continuously firing, the weapon growing warmer and warmer in her hands. "We can't run without expecting to get injured."

"You can't destroy them all with just a blaster!" 0NB6 shouted back, using his other arm to try to pull her away.

"Take 0NB9 and Passy and get out of here," she instructed him, beads of sweat forming on her head as the weapon began to feel hot in her gloved hands. "They can't harm a human. They're programmed not to harm humans," she said, half to reassure herself, half to convince him.

"They don't look like they're holding back to me!"

"Ciel, just run a little farther," her cyber-elf said, hovering a little distance away from them. "I think I see some sort of ditch. If you're going to go out fighting, you might as well do it from a reasonably safe covering. You'll have a greater chance of destroying more units that way."

"Fine," she nodded, immediately turning around and grabbing the two reploids, forcing them to run with her. The cyber-elf flew in a zigzagged line, trying to draw the enemies' attention. The three saw the ditch that the cyber-elf had mentioned, and quickly jumped into it. Ciel stuck her head out, firing at the approaching Neo Arcadians. She suddenly dropped the blaster into the ditch.

"You're right, that blaster _is_ cheap," she said, blowing on her quivering hands. How could they win? The odds were too much against them. Even if she managed to make every single one of her shots count, even if she ignored the pain the heat was causing her, she wouldn't be able to destroy every single reploid that was chasing them. She looked at 0NB6. He grinned at her, knowing they were done for. The cyber-elf flew into the ditch, rejoining them.

"What are you doing? If you don't destroy them before they come here, then we'll all be dead meat," Passy chided.

"The only one made of meat here is Dr. Ciel, and I think she'd be the last one to become dead meat," 0NB6 joked as bullets landed in the sand above him, showering the group with sand.

"That's not funny!" the small reploid shouted, silencing the group. "We're about to die, and all you grown-ups can do is joke around?" She looked furiously at the others, appearing as if she were about to cry. She stomped to the blaster and picked it up.

"What are you—" Ciel and the other reploid started, but she cut them off.

"If you're not going to do anything, then I will," the little girl shouted. She held the blaster with both of her hands, and fired at the ground.

"Uh…the enemy is up there," 0NB6 said uncertainly. The other reploid looked back at him defiantly. Suddenly, they felt the ground shake, and a moment later, the ground collapsed, hurling the group towards a deeper hole. Ciel screamed, the sudden fall taking her by surprise before she landed in a pile of sand. The cyber-elf darted into the pile of sand she had landed on, hiding her bright light from the sight of pursuers. The group tried to be quiet as they saw Neo Arcadians above them, standing at the edge of the ditch, searching for them. The Neo Arcadians them moved on, walking around the small opening, not noticing their prey deep in the hole below.

Ciel let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, smiling weakly at the others. Somehow, they had managed to cheat death, and she hoped that luck would last with them for a while longer.

"See? If you had been paying attention to your surroundings instead of joking around, you would have noticed that we were on sand rock," the little reploid coughed, trying to get the sand out of her vocal system.

"Sand rock?" the other reploid asked, retrieving his blaster from under a pile of sand.

"You know, the little rocks made of sand that you can crush if you push real hard?" the child said as if it were common knowledge.

"How did you know that was what you were standing on?" the cyber-elf asked, coming out of hiding. It shook itself a little to get rid of stray grains.

"There were lots of big sand rocks lying around, so I guessed that maybe we were on a really big sand rock," the little girl said, brushing her skirt to free it of sand. "And I was right."

"Yes, you were," Ciel said, shaking her head. "We sure are lucky to have you around. You're like a safety blanket, you know?" Ciel muffled her laughter, afraid to let the reploids above hear her. "I'm beginning to feel that as long as I have you around, everything will turn out all right." The small reploid smiled shyly in response. "I'm glad we're all safe," she said, feeling tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes. "Just a little more, and we would all have been killed."

"I thought you said reploids are programmed not to harm humans?" 0NB6 asked, reminding her of her foolish behavior.

"Well, those reploids certainly weren't given that program!" she said defensively, huffing a little. "And what about you? 'I'm just a nameless number to be sacrificed.' You stupid!" she said, hitting him in the arm.

"Ow!" he gasped as she knocked the useless arm, hitting the still active sensor in his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry! I forgot," Ciel said apologetically, quickly going to his side to check on his arm. "Passy, would you mind giving me some light?" The cyber-elf immediately hovered over the two of them, watching the scientist examine the arm carefully.

"The nanobots should have fixed it by now," Ciel said, moving the arm carefully. "See? The hole the bullets made has been fixed already, but the arm still isn't functioning."

"I think the power supply that leads to that arm has been cut off," he said, finally having the chance to go over the damage reports that his system had been urging him to see.

"That's bad. If we don't reconnect the power supply soon, then the nanobots in your arm will be permanently destroyed," Ciel said, frowning. "That means you'll never be able to use this arm again."

"Unless I get someone to fix the movement mechanism in the arm," the reploid said, shrugging. "Or get a fresh supply of nanobots after reconnecting the power supply."

"Both of those options are going to be impossible if we ever get out of this ditch," Ciel said, sitting down across from him. "The tools required... Not to mention how expensive nanobots are. How are we going to get a hold of those things? We're basically on the run now."

"Ciel, you can use me," the cyber-elf said, hovering near its master. Ciel bit her lip.

"That means that you'll die, so thanks, but no thanks," the reploid said, leaning against the sandy wall. "I'd rather have a useless arm than an arm gained through another's sacrifice."

"Are you being a martyr again?" Ciel teased.

"Think whatever you want."

"Hmph! Well, since you give such little value to your life because of a lack of a name, then I shall name you," Ciel said pompously, sitting up straight. "0NB6. I hereby dub you 'Dande' of the Dandelions."

"Dandelions? Why am I 'of the Dandelions?'" he asked, amused.

"Because you're a weed."

"What!"

"Ciel, name me too!" 0NB9 said excitedly, sitting closer to Ciel.

"Hmm… Yours is more difficult," Ciel said, fishing in her mind for a good name. She wanted a perfect name for the little reploid, one that would capture the spirit that was in the child. "Alouette. Your name is Alouette."

"Alouette?" the small reploid asked, trying the name out.

"It means 'lark.' You see, my name means 'sky,' so together, we'll make 'skylark,'" Ciel explained, smiling at the reploid. "So you'd better stay by my side."

"Okay!" Alouette said happily, smiling broadly. The small reploid then turned to the taller reploid, chattering away at first about their new names, then about anything underneath the heavens. Ciel only looked fondly at the two reploids, hoping her wishes carried in their names would come true.

She hoped that the taller reploid would be able to survive the world that they were about to enter. She hoped that he would persist like a dandelion, not fearing what happened to itself, sending seeds everywhere so that it would always persist, always survive, no matter what. She hoped that he would be able to survive as well as the dandelion.

And for the little girl, she wished to give her a pair of wings so that the reploid could fly her way to freedom if all else should fail. She wanted all the reploids to be able to survive and find the freedom they so deserved. Even if they couldn't have it now, she hoped that one day, someone would be able to give the reploids justice.

With those thoughts, she fell into a light doze, waiting for the Neo Arcadians to leave the premises, and for the long awaited dawn to arrive.


	4. Arcadia

**Zero Purpose**

_Arcadia, Lost City_

It had truly been a magnificent city, with its tall buildings standing like needles piercing the sky, and its quiet parks sitting as still as a stone in a lake. The windows were polished and cleaned so that they would have been piercing to see during dawn, and the streets were wide and flat, almost a symbol of the calm that the city was supposed to represent. At night, the tiny shops by the streets would have added their vibrant colors to the city, lighting and livening up the otherwise gray tranquility of day. The city must have been bustling with life, with people laughing, talking, enjoying, living.

And now it was all ashes.

It hadn't been all of her doing. After all, she only commanded a quarter of Neo Arcadia's army, perhaps even less. Who knew the exact size of Neo Arcadia's military, save X and the more powerful members of parliament? What she did know was that the Old City was destroyed, and she had helped destroy it.

She stood at the outskirts of the Old City, looking down at the smoking rubble of what used to be Arcadia and the rebel reploids. If an archaeologist dug this place up after the truth was forgotten, after Neo Arcadia became just another myth, he wouldn't find much. But from what he could find, he would guess that a terrible war destroyed the old city of Arcadia, forcing its inhabitants to build a new city on top of it, and calling the new city "Neo Arcadia." How wrong that archaeologist would be. But how could he ever guess that it was Neo Arcadians, centuries later, after the old city was abandoned, who would return and destroy the city that had been lying in peace for centuries? For what reason would they destroy that part of history that had hidden itself from them?

It was ludicrous, and she knew it. There had been no need to go to these lengths to destroy the runaway reploids, and yet, these lengths had been taken. She could only stare at the ashes and smoke, recalling from her memory banks the image of the city before they had attacked. Such peace… She had wished for a moment that she had been a human living in this city so long ago, and she could only imagine what life in this city must have been like. What had caused these people to create reploids in the first place? And how did they manage to create a reploid like X centuries ago, when X still surpassed many of the modern reploids, even if he was only a copy of the original? She stared at the lost city, willing it to answer her questions, but it just laid smoking in silence.

She could hear a loud thud behind her as a certain red reploid made his way noisily towards her. She sighed, knowing her momentary peace was soon to be ruined.

"How many, Fefnir?" she asked lazily, not bothering to look at him.

"Dunno. Haven't checked yet," he said, scowling at the ruined city. "This wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be."

"They're escapee service reploids. How much fun did you expect them to be?" she asked dryly. "Honestly, use your head once in a while. I know it's difficult for you, but please do try."

"They're not all escapee service reploids," he retorted sulkily. "I thought that I would at least encounter some former military reploids, but no such luck."

"How would you even know if you encountered one or not? You blew most of them up before you even got close enough to look at the light from their busters," Leviathan sighed, eyeing a part of the city that was still on fire.

"Fire is my specialty. Of course I have to blow them up," he said defensively. "That's why it's hard for me to keep track of how many units I destroyed."

"You should make your attacks quick and clean like mine," Leviathan said, running one hand down her long spear. She swung it around a few times to demonstrate what she meant. "One swipe and they're dead."

"I don't like doing things that way," Fefnir shrugged, not really caring. "Harpuia likes electrifying and attacking from the air. Phantom likes sneaking and catching them by surprise. You like slicing them in half. I like blowing them up. We all have our own preferences for destruction."

"That is, if we even prefer to destroy," Leviathan said quietly, surveying the ruins once more. She gave Fefnir a dirty look. "Except for you, of course." He grinned in reply, showing all of his teeth.

"They're just Mavericks, so who cares?" he said, carelessly kicking a stone down to the city. He watched as the stone made a little cloud of dust as it landed among the rubble. Suddenly, Leviathan stomped on his foot.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked angrily, moving away from the water reploid. He knew that she could get temperamental at times, but he had never seen her suddenly becoming so violent before.

"You're a Maverick too, moron," she said angrily. "You feel pain, don't you? _Real_ reploids aren't supposed to feel anything."

"Don't be stupid! I'm made from X's DNA, so of course I can't be Maverick," Fefnir said, equally furious.

"What kind of logic is that? Who says X can't become Maverick?" Leviathan sighed, shaking her head at his foolishness.

"X is a hero, right? Heroes aren't Maverick," Fefnir reasoned. "If he went Maverick, he would no longer be a hero."

"You really are simple-minded, aren't you, you fighting freak," Leviathan sighed again. She leaned into her spear, letting the sharp end dig into the hard earth. "I'm ashamed to say that we were both created from the same DNA source."

"Too bad we are," he said, sitting down next to her. "Hey, that would make us siblings!"

"Ugh. Who would want to be your sibling?" Leviathan asked, disgusted. She scooted away from him.

"Wait a minute. That doesn't make much sense," he said, frowning in thought. "If we were both created from the same DNA, wouldn't that mean that we should look the same?" Leviathan stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Are you pretending to be dumb, or do you really not know?" she asked, marveling at his idiocy.

"What are you talking about?"

"The DNA I'm talking about isn't deoxyribonucleic acid," she shook her head in disbelief. "Why on earth would reploids have that? That's only something living things would need. I'm talking about dispersed nano application. Honestly, you call yourself a reploid when you don't even know such a thing?"

"Hey, I'm only responsible for getting rid of problematic factors in Neo Arcadia, not for knowing whatever goes on in a reploid," he growled, irritated with how she was always acting as if she knew everything.

"Are you retarded or something? Never mind, I already know the answer to that," she said, much to his annoyance. "Dispersed nano application is what controls the actions of the nanobots in our bodies. Each of us Four Guardians were given some of X's nano applications, but not all. I was obviously given the part that controls the nanobots in the head, while you were obviously given the part that controls those in the feet."

"Are you trying to insult me?" he asked, half amused, half irritated.

"In any case, when I'm talking about reploid DNA, I'm not talking about the same thing as human DNA," she said, ignoring him. "And so, just because we have our DNA from the same source, doesn't mean that we're related, otherwise, it could be said that all the reploids in the world are siblings. After all, we all share the same basic programming."

"That's just great, smarty-pants," Fefnir said, getting up and rotating his joints. "But I don't like the idea of being related to the reploids that I'm ordered to destroy."

"And yet you let that one reploid and his friends escape on one of your vehicles without trying to stop him," Leviathan said slyly, not looking at him. "If that doesn't show that you're related to those rebels, then I don't know what does."

"How do you know about that?" he asked directly, not looking at her either. He stretched his back lazily, not really fearing if the government knew about his involvement with the rebels. If the government really wanted to destroy him, then he would simply kill those that he could, and join the resistance. So long as there was someone he could fight, he didn't really care which side he was on. It seemed to him that both sides had their own rights and wrongs anyway.

"Don't forget which department I'm from," Leviathan said, brushing her hair back nonchalantly. "I have my own information network, too."

"I thought Phantom was in charge of gathering information," Fefnir said, looking at the domed, earth ceiling and wondering what would happen if he fired a large missile into it.

"He's in charge of illegal information," Leviathan sighed once more, wondering if Fefnir even paid attention during meetings. "I'm in charge of information that can be obtained legally."

"Is it legal to go through a Guardian's records?" he questioned.

"I have complete access to each Guardian's military vehicles and weapons record," Leviathan recited from her memory. "All it took was a little command and I had the entire list of your vehicles and the state of their condition. I noticed that one of them was mysteriously labeled missing, and it was only labeled missing after the attack on the rebel reploids. Not to mention that the feedback that some of those new combat reploids gave me indicated that a certain guardian was standing nearby watching while a group of rebels waltzed past without doing anything."

"You gonna tell anyone?" Fefnir asked after a while. He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, noticing her flamboyant grin.

"Depending on the excuse you give me, I'll keep my mouth shut," she replied. He sighed, looking at the other end of the city where Harpuia was.

"He used to work under Harpuia," he finally said, his voice quiet, unlike his usually loud self. "And he's helped me a few times to gather information when I needed it."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to come to me for information?" Leviathan asked, feigning anger.

"Hmph, and risk letting the government know what I'm up to? No thanks," he said, ignoring her acting.

"What? You doing something illegal?" Leviathan asked jokingly. He said nothing, and his silence worried her.

"In any case, I don't forget those who have helped me before, that's why I let him escape," he said simply, walking back down to the ruined city. Leviathan bit her lip anxiously, staring at Fefnir's retreating back.

"Fefnir!" she shouted, running a little ways after him. "Those who betray Neo Arcadia never live for long." She waited for him to reply, to tell her that he had no such intentions. Even if she couldn't tolerate such a simple-minded fool, he was still one of the Four Guardians, and she felt an innate need to protect and cover a Guardian like herself. She had seen the bills that the government had incurred just from the military department, and she could only guess the size and power of Neo Arcadia's full military force. She knew that it was next to impossible for the rebel reploids to survive for long, but she knew that a traitorous guardian would have no chance of survival.

"Worry about yourself," he said gruffly. "Don't stick your nose into things that are too deep." She looked at him questioningly, but he didn't say anymore and quickly made his descent down to the city to check for any survivors. If there were any survivors of the traitors of Neo Arcadia, they would be mercilessly eradicated. It was a fact that they both knew, and yet, here was an idiot who would dare defy the absolute law that was Neo Arcadia. Leviathan wanted to knock some sense into Fefnir's thick head, but she doubted her fist could penetrate his hard skull. More likely than not, she would end up with a bruised fist, but no other results.

_Desert, South of Neo Arcadia, Dawn_

She huddled next to Alouette, the gradually rising morning sun ironically making the temperature feel colder to her. She had gotten through the rest of the night without much sleep, dozing off once in a while, waking up whenever she heard a strange noise. As the morning sun slowly crawled up into the sky, she felt her fears dissipate as the rays of the sun began to touch her and actually begin to warn her. Alouette stirred slightly next to her, the small reploid still fast asleep.

"Are you awake?"

She turned to the source of the voice, seeing the older reploid glancing at her direction. Passy had long since been placed in her capsule, so the only one on guard the whole night had been that solitary reploid. She looked worriedly at his arm, but he shifted himself so that she could not see it.

"We should probably move as soon as possible. I don't think you can last more than two more days without food, no matter how stubborn you try to be," he said, looking at the quickly brightening sky. "And who knows how long we can run before our energy runs out also."

Ciel didn't answer him, instead gently shaking Alouette awake. She felt bad for the child having to experience so many things all at once, and she was sure that Alouette was tired from the trek through the desert, but Dande was right. They really couldn't afford wasting any more time resting.

As soon as Alouette was awake, the trio began their slow climb up the sandy ditch. Dande slipped a few times, his broken arm not really helping him in the process, and in the end, Alouette and Ciel had to help him up.

"Which direction?" Dande panted, the climb taxing him more than he had anticipated.

"I don't know," Ciel answered honestly. "But there's really only one direction we can go: as far away from Neo Arcadia as possible. I'm quite certain that the Neo Arcadian forces will be back to search for us." Alouette clutched Ciel's hand more tightly, afraid of being discovered by the Neo Arcadians once more.

"But we don't know where that Neo Arcadian force from last night is," Dande argued, looking at the horizon away from Neo Arcadia. "If we run right into them, that would defeat the whole point of hiding from them."

Ciel also looked at the direction that they should be heading, wondering if the Neo Arcadians were really there. She wondered if they should take the risk. They really couldn't afford to stand around here forever. Soon the sun would reach the zenith, and then the desert would be so unbearably hot that they would probably have to find shade and rest in it. Just as she was debating whether or not they stood a better chance rushing into the unknown or staying where they were until they could be somewhat more certain that the Neo Arcadian force had left, a crackling static began to emit from the communicator in her headpiece.

"….in. C……in. Come in. Dr. Ciel, please come in."

"Milan? Milan, is that you?" she shouted into her microphone, half in shock, half in desperation. The other two reploids looked at her with a small amount of hope glowing in their eyes.

"Dr. Ciel? I'm so glad we've finally contacted you," the voice at the other end of the microphone said in relief. "I've been calling out your name for the past hour or so. We knew you were in the general vicinity, but we didn't know where exactly."

"H-How did you track me?" she whispered in equal, if not greater relief. She couldn't describe the sudden weight that had been lifted off her shoulders the moment she heard Milan's voice. She promised to herself that she would never joke at the reploid's expense ever again. Well… Unless he did something really stupid.

"Hello, Ciel? Your communicator? Or did you forget that you still have Cerveau's tracker from when you were down in the sewers?" Milan said, making her sound as if she were a retard. "Are you _really_ a doctor?"

"Milan!" she shouted angrily, surprising both Alouette and Dande. She smiled to them apologetically. "Just get your butt over here quickly. I don't want to encounter more Neo Arcadians than I have to."

"Fine, fine, your highness," Milan said. She could picture him rolling his eyes at her, but somehow, it didn't irritate her as usual. She knew it was selfish of her, but she was secretly glad that Milan had been one of the reploids that had escaped. She wasn't supposed to have favorites among the reploids, but if Milan had died in the last attack, she would have felt more devastated than at some random reploid's death.

"I'm assuming that was from the Resistance?" Dande asked, scanning the horizon for any signs of life.

"Milan says that he'll be here in a few moments to pick us up. I think there are other survivors with him," Ciel replied, recalling his use of "we." She immediately felt a surge of guilt as she realized that she had been so busy worrying for herself and her own survival that she hadn't really even thought about how the other reploids had been doing. It hadn't really entered her mind how many of them had survived, or how she was going to meet up with those that did survive the attack. She had been too busy wondering about what she was going to do when she became hungry or thirsty, and about where she was heading and how she was going to survive devoid of resources or communication. She should have thought about the condition of the other reploids first. She should have put their well-being before her own. She was supposed to help the reploids find peace and eke out an existence outside of Neo Arcadia, but she hadn't even cared enough to think about them after her escape. Some leader of the reploids she was.

Dande watched in silence as Ciel seemed to become more and more depressed. He wondered what could have possibly made her so gloomy after the good news of being rescued by their own people, but he didn't presume to interrupt her thoughts. It was best to remain silent in situations that one didn't really understand. He didn't want to be going out on a limb trying to cheer her up when he didn't even know where the problem lay.

As the two adults were both lost in their thoughts, the sand began to whip up some distance in front of them, signaling the arrival of their companions. The hovercraft moved slowly towards them, almost as if its occupants were doing a visual search. Finally, the pilot seemed to spot them and moved quickly towards their position.

When the hovercraft touched down lightly, Milan stuck his head out of the window, beckoning them to come towards the vehicle. It was all the trio could do to keep themselves from running to the craft as if in fear of it disappearing into a dream. When Ciel got close enough for Milan to hear him, she scowled at him, pretending to be angry with him.

"What took you so long to find us?" she asked, huffing a little. "I thought you could pinpoint our position with Cerveau's tracker. And even if Cerveau's tracker didn't work, couldn't you use the hovercraft's computer to scan for heat signatures?"

"We kind of broke the hovercraft's computer to make a makeshift tracker to trace you," Milan grinned, unfazed by her false anger. "Besides, we can't just randomly turn on the craft's computer. You want the Neo Arcadians to find us?"

Ciel suddenly remembered that Neo Arcadia had a program that tracked the position of every vehicle from Neo Arcadia, as long as the computer onboard the vehicle was turned on. It had been another one of her many "improvements" for the enforced safety of the Neo Arcadians, and now it had come back to haunt her. She refused to admit that Milan was right, though, and entered the hovercraft without saying a word, observing those that had escaped in the vehicle. There were very few reploids on board, and of them, she could only recognize Cerveau and Hirondelle. There was an old reploid in the back, and many other models that she could not identify. Her heart sank at the number of reploids she saw, but she did her best to smile encouragingly, not wanting to depress the survivors any more than they already were. They would need what spirit was left in them to restart the Resistance despite their devastating losses.


End file.
